Centerburg’s Kayla Larimore has been the top scorer in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference for most of the season, and on Jan. 26 she led all scorers with 19 points in a huge 41-32 win over Cardington-Lincoln (11-7, 8-3).
“Great effort by both teams,” said Centerburg Coach Bill Abner. “This was a huge game and we expected it to be a slugfest and it was. We came out of the gate red hot and that really was the difference in the game. In some ways it was a repeat of our first game six days ago. We got out to a 15 or 16 point lead in that game too but Cardington has no quit in them and we knew they'd make a run and they did.”
Centerburg (12-3, 7-2) led 16-6 after one quarter, with Clara Johnson hitting a three and scoring four total points in the quarter. Tiara Sheppard also had four points, while Evie Stowe and Kennedi Glenn each hit threes.
Larimore scored all 10 points for the Trojans in the second quarter, ending the half with 12 points to lead Centerburg to a 26-16 lead.
Cardington-Lincoln came out in the third quarter determined to cut the lead, and did so with a 9-6 advantage. Kinstin Henthorn led the Pirates with five points in the quarter, including a three. In the fourth quarter, Larimore went off for seven of the team’s nine points, and held Cardington-Lincoln to only six points to secure the conference win.
The win for Centerburg put the Trojans in sole possession of first place in KMAC with a .778 winning percentage. The Pirates are a .727 in KMAC play. Centerburg has now won its last two games against their conference rival, with the last one being a 52-44 win on Jan. 20 when the Pirates were in first place.
“We played much better defensively tonight,” Coach Abner said. “We made a few adjustments to our defensive scheme and I think that helped quite a bit. The girls embraced the game plan and executed it.”
Larimore's 19 points matched her season average that is just higher than Fredericktown’s Cally Carpenter’s 18.6 ppg. She was 5-for-6 from the free throw line and had a pair of threes. Larimore also grabbed six rebounds in the win, putting together a another top tier performance.
“Kayla had another great scoring night, and she made some huge shots for us, she also grabbed 6 boards, but this really was a total team effort. You're not going to beat Cardington with one or two players.”
Glenn had eight points, Sheppard had seven points, Johnson scored four points and Stowe had three points. Stowe also had three assists and three steals with only two turnovers, playing some solid point guard for the Trojans.
Kenlee Fairall did not score but she had five steals, and currently leads the KMAC in that category at about 4.5 per game.
“Kennedi hit a couple of huge threes, so did Clara and Evie,” Coach Abner said. “Tiara attacked the basket and was very active defensively. Kenlee was all over the floor again on defense, she didn't score a point but had a huge effect on the outcome. And I thought Chesnee gave us great minutes off the bench, especially on the defensive end. When everyone plays their role and contributes, we're pretty good.”
Henthorn had eight points and a rebounds for Cardington-Lincoln. Abbi Hardwick had six points, six rebounds and two steals. Madison Caulkins had six points, six boards, two assists and a block. Jill Bertke had five points, five boards, two steals, an assist and a block. Magi Hallabrin had three points, six rebounds and an assist. Genevieve Longsdorf and Lydia Hess each had two points. Hess also had four boards and an assist.
“It was another very tough loss,” said Pirate Coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. “Both games have been decided by us having one really tough quarter. We got ourselves in a hole at the end of the first quarter into the beginning of the second and could never fully recover. We did a great job of fighting back, but we couldn’t make the big play when we needed it.”
Fitzpatrick was happy with the way the Pirates started the game, saying their initial gameplan was working. The team was moving the ball well early, and getting great looks at the basket. This is something Fitzpatrick said the team can build off of. However, they started to play too fast which caused them to make critical, costly mistakes.
“We have one conference game left in our season and it’s against the rival (Mount Gilead),” said Fitzpatrick. “We need to make sure that we finish the season strong and keep the pressure on Centerburg. Nothing is easy in our league and anything can happen. I wish that we controlled our own destiny, but now we don’t.”
Centerburg travels to Fredericktown on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. and Cardington-Lincoln hosts Mount Gilead the same day with a 7:30 p.m. tip off.
